And that would be a win in tonight’s District 1-Class AAAA quarterfinals at Ridley.

“We still believe we have a lot of football in us,” Rams head coach Chad Brubaker said earlier this week.

For some, that may sound a bit brash, maybe even a little arrogant. For Brubaker and the Rams, well, it’s merely confidence.

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The Rams picked up a good dose of it after last week’s opening-round 43-27 win over Garnet Valley… unquestionably the result of producing as balanced an offense as they produced all season — 239 yards running the ball and 202 throwing it — against a good defense; the result of scoring 21 unanswered, third-quarter points to get out of a 14-12 halftime hole and create a comfortable spread going into the final 12 minutes of play.

It’s also the result of winning the first postseason game in the Spring-Ford program’s history, and the first by any Pioneer Athletic Conference rival in the AAAA bracket since the playoffs kicked off back in 1992.

“Our (coaching) staff was so happy for our kids and their pride in achieving their initial goal last week,” Brubaker said. “Each step in the playoffs adds to that electricity.”

The No. 7 seeded Rams, now 10-1 overall, hope to charge it up even more tonight against unbeaten No. 2 Ridley — ranked eighth in the state with a program that is accustomed to playing in mid-November. The Raiders have appeared in the postseason seven straight years now — and in 10 of the last 11 overall — with a pair of district titles in their trophy case.

There’s no question the Rams will need to amp up their game against Ridley, which has rolled over everyone rather convincingly — with the exception Haverford (23-15) in Week Two, Springfield-Delco (7-3) in Week Eight, and Downingtown West (20-17) last Friday night — thanks to a punishing defense.

And it’s a defense anchored by linebacker Shane Dougherty, tagged a “beast” by some and a strong candidate for the Delaware County Player of the Year honor. He already has over 100 tackles this season, not bad for someone who has played through half the schedule with a broken wrist.

Dougherty gets a lot of help up front from Matt Sinex, Steve Plousis and Rich Coiz — all two-way starters — and behind him in the secondary from Mike Crowley and Mike Smoluk— each of whom have four interceptions.

That, of course, creates an imposing challenge for Spring-Ford’s offensive line of Josh Boyer, Zach Dorsey, Mike Gilmore, Justin Meals, and the tight-end tandem of R.J. Sheldon and Zameer McDowell. That group has more than held its own in helping generate an average of 364 yards a game.

Creating space for a now-healthy Jarred Jones (704 yards, 9.5 yards a pop) and fullback Yousef Lundi (925 yards) to run, and providing time for quarterback Hank Coyne (1,587 yards, 22 TDs) to throw, will be imperative … if only to give Ridley as balanced an offensive look as its seen all year.

And a glance at an offense that has shifted into high gear the past month.

“We put the ball on the turf five times (against Garnet Valley) and almost threw a bad interception on a miscommunication,” Brubaker said. “I would say we were very fortunate that the ball bounced our way throughout that game. Still, we are playing as well as we’ve played all season.”

Ridley’s offense is run-oriented. Darren Washington, who set a single-game school record a few weeks ago and is the second-leading ballcarrier in Delaware County, has 1,378 yards and 15 touchdowns. Coia, nicknamed “Bam Bam” as well as “Rudy” for his small stature and big plays, has added 538 yards and nine touchdowns.

Quarterback Colin Wright has only gone up top 97 times for 669 yards and four scores — and Crowley (25 receptions for 504 yards, 7 TDs) has been his most reliable target. But Wright is best known for his game management, leading the Raiders to an average of 321 yards a game.

“Ridley is well-coached,” Brubaker said. “They’re balanced on offense and give you a lot of different looks. They have tough kids who play hard from the snap to the whistle.

Spring-Ford did miss some tackles last week that would have otherwise enabled the defense to get off the field and turn it over to its offense. The Rams can ill-afford those mistakes against the Raiders.

And they in no way can they afford to turn the ball over. Even though the Rams are a plus-eight in takeaways over their last four games and an impressive plus-11 for the season, the Raiders have created 25 turnovers and are also a plus-11 going into tonight’s game.

“The coaching staff has worked hard to change up our practice routine a bit over the past few weeks,” Brubaker said. “We always try to focus on the little things, but during the playoffs we have to emphasize the little things even more. Playoffs are largely about kids truly believing they can accomplish their goals and a combination of maintaining their mental energy and physical motivation.

“We just hope our players welcome the experience to go play against one of the most successful football programs in the state. We’ve talked about ‘getting on the map’ of Pennsylvania football. The only way to do that is to go out and play great programs. We started that by opening with (a win over) Whitehall. (Beating) Garnet Valley is a feather in our cap. So playing Ridley is another opportunity for us to be on the radar.”

NOTES

Tonight’s game is the first meeting between the two schools. … The Raiders won district titles in 2009 and 2007 before losing in the PIAA semifinals to eventual state champion La Salle and state runner-up Parkland, respectively, those years. They were also the district runner-up to Pennsbury in 2006. Going into tonight’s game, Ridley is 14-7 in postseason games since 2002. … With at least two games remaining (Spring-Ford hosts Phoenixville on Thanksgiving), Coyne needs 18 completions and 35 attempts to pass Perkiomen Valley graduate Zach Zulli and become The Mercury area’s all-time career leader in both categories.